Author: ashim

Curated information on the difference between Apple Pay and Google Wallet

Google Wallet vs. Apple Pay – Comparison

“Having a partner like Apple really was like catching lightning in a bottle,” Jim McCarthy, head of innovation at Visa, said in a phone interview. “Given their ability to effectively manage their platform, and get folks across multiple industries, merchants, banks and networks to cooperate really was the thing that catalyzed the whole thing.”

Security

1) Google stores information on ALL of your purchases made on Google Wallet. Doing this, it set itself up in competition with the banks. Banks needed a separate network connection to do the CC validation back to google servers. When you purchase something using Google Wallet NFC the vendor charges Google who then in turn charges your credit card. There is no direct connection between the purchase and your credit card. This prevents cashback bonuses from always working.

Apple’s payment model continued to put banks “at the centre of payments” by not storing any information about your purchases. in fact, banks advertised Apple Pay so that customers with multiple cards can choose theirs as default.

Economics

The search giant pays such hefty fees to banks that it loses money on each transaction. That’s made the division something of a money pit.

Apple Goal in entering the payments industry is to increase the value of Apple hardware. Touch ID, location data, NFC and secure element mitigated some risk and so is more secure. Apple gets around 10% discount on the processing rate it will pay.

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Google’s view is that if the PIN is stored in the SE component the banks will take full responsibility over the PIN. Apple mitigated risk for banks by using SE and encrypting card info.

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2) Google tried to eliminate Visa, MasterCard by generating its own credit card number to scramble bank’s cc numbers. “There are schemes that don’t respect and honor the payment networks,” said James Anderson, the senior vice president for mobile product development at MasterCard. “We want to invest in programs that respect our role in the ecosystem.

3) No network is needed for paying from ApplePay. the POS device is connected to the network so all the iPhone has to do is send the token and CVV via NFC. After that the POS uses its own network to validate everything. The only time a cellular/wifi network is needed is when the card is first linked to the phone.

Carrier blocking

Android OEMs are still far more susceptible to carrier control, as they still require carrier approval for software updates. Meanwhile, Apple is able to distribute software updates independently of carriers, and is generally capable of operating outside of their jurisdiction.

Approach and execution

1) advertising supported model.

2) SE is debatable

US only. Same with Canada, Australia. Google can’t just go to countries that have the infrastructure

Google launched Wallet in Oct 11 in US only with limited number of phones. They did not fix these problems. Apple waited until it can secure favorable terms with the banks, retailers, and processors, as well training users with the TouchID fingerprint sensor, then hype the service and go for the kill. While Apple isn’t necessarily inventing the wheel here, Apple Pay again represents the first real implementation, on a massive scale no less, of the relatively fresh tokenization specification.

What does it mean for the industry

It’ll be a lot easier to convince the financial institutions now that Apple is finally onboard for NFC payments if they have a similar offering of security and data privacy. Apple’s adoption of NFC signals that interoperability is a key component of the ecosystem moving forward, but it also probably means we’re going to see significant morphing of the existing networks around the shift to mobile. Those shifts will be:

Move away from card numbers to tokenized identity as the customer identifier (no more “cardholder” folks)

Card networks become data networks – the data passing before, during and after a transaction becomes just as important as the authorization itself; and

When we move to cardless ubiquity, do card networks just become payment networks with payment and identity protocols?Benefit- advantage, profit

The swipe fees, also known as interchange, help card-issuing banks cover fraud costs, authentication, dispute settling and fund reward programs.

Interchange rate = percentage + fixed cost

2.9% fee split between gateway, front-end processor and banks

30c goes to Visa/MasterCard

Interchange rates are set by the card association, varying by the merchant’s industry. Acquiring bank pays merchant daily net balance.

The payments industry works on ridiculously low margins. Interchange rates are also determined by whether the transaction is card-present or card-not-present. Higher fee for card not present because of higher risk.

Mobile wallets have historically being card-not-present transactions. But Apple wanted its wallet to have same status as card-present. Touch ID, location data, NFC and secure element mitigated some risk and so is more secure (like a card present transaction). Apple gets around 10% discount on the processing rate it will pay.

Walmart has made a similar deal as Apple to lower card transaction rates in its stores.

Incentivesfor banks for higher discount rates

1 Apple wallet works with all 4 FIs.

2 Apple takes some risk for fraudulent transactions

3 Banks still own transaction data.

The money they save with less fraud more than makes up for any cut that Apple gets. That’s why all the major CC companies are on board and pretty much all the US banks, just at launch.

Incentivesfor merchants

Starting late 2015, merchants will be liable for fraudulent transactions, not credit card companies. They need to upgrade the payment equipment with an enhanced security system called EMV.

Card associations consider a participating merchant to be a risk if more than 1% of payments received result in a chargeback. Visa and MasterCard levy fines against acquiring banks that retain merchants with high chargeback frequency. To defray the cost of any fines received, the acquiring banks are inclined (but not required) to pass such fines on to the merchant. Costly fees are generally at the cost of the merchant.

New UI stuff1 iphone home screen now works in landscape too (only on 6+)2 “reachability”- new gesture (double-touch the home button and the whole display just slides down, so you can reach the top of the screen without using other hand). Don’t know what will app switcher action change to3 New screen sizes might need UI updates for apps.

____Apple PayWorks both for in-store and online payments. Also pay with Watch without using phone (details not shared yet by Apple).Emphasis on being ‘secure’ 1 “Apple doesn’t know what you bought, where you bought it, and how much you bought it for.”2 “we are not in the business of collecting your data.”3 dedicated chip to store encrypted payment info4 disposable credit card numbers and cvv numbers for all transactions

Thoughts: Apple figured out the best way for mobile payments- both online and offline. Best implementation of NFC- contactless, no screen interaction required.

____Apple WatchComes in two sizesNot a standalone deviceThird party developers can make apps- Mostly action-based notifications like Android WearSlightly rectangular display

Buttons and Flat Design
Buttons and interface widgets, when present, need to be easily distinguishable from content. They need to have good affordances that invite users to action. In the absence of strong signifiers, they can get ignored, and users may find themselves lost and disoriented.

I love the fun details on Ubuntu’s donation page. There is none of the boring one text field, asking us to enter an amount. Eight sliders ask you to ‘customize’ your donation amount for various sections of the project. The copy is great too! And there’s more.

As you adjust the sliders, the contribution amount changes and shows nerdy, quirky stuff that your chosen amount is equivalent to. The quirkiness increases with the contribution amount :)